World Economic Forum, in Davos: press conference with the participation of Neelie Kroes

On 23 January 2014, the World Economic Forum (WEF) took place in Davos, Switzerland.
On this occasion, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Digital Agenda, launched a new accelerator – the Startup Europe Partnership – and a new think tank - the European Digital Forum.
This video shows a press conference given by Neelie Kroes, José María Alvarez-Pallete López, CEO of Telefónica Latinoamérica, Nathalie Boulanger, Senior Vice-President in charge of the Orange Startup Ecosystem at the Orange Group, and Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Only the original language version is authentic and it prevails in the event of its differing from the translated versions.
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00:00:00

Arrival of the Speakers

00:02:03

00:02:03

Soundbite by Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Digital Agenda, (in ENGLISH) saying that Europe needs thriving startups and global internet companies to become a global growth centre again. Saying that politicians don’t create jobs, entrepreneurs do. They are going to support that mindset and push European startups beyond their comfort zone. And then they are going to get out of the way. Sometimes the best thing a political leader can do is get out of the way.

00:05:02

00:07:05

Soundbite by José María Alvarez-Pallete López, CEO of Telefónica Latinoamérica, (in ENGLISH) saying that their vision is that European corporations – big and small – can work together with Universities to transform society and the economy to achieve growth in digital skills and entrepreneurship in a sustainable way. This initiative will play a key role in boosting Europe's competitive momentum in all areas of digital innovation.Saying that boosting Europe’s digital competitiveness needs policies that spur investment and kickstart growth, but at the same time they need to encourage and support innovation-driven entrepreneurship. Key to this will be to narrow the gap between start-ups and multinational corporations – which is one of the core objectives of the European Digital Forum.

00:04:03

00:11:08

Soundbite by Nathalie Boulanger, Senior Vice-President in charge of the Orange Startup Ecosystem at the Orange Group, (in ENGLISH) saying that they are extremely proud to be associated with this program. This way, they will be able to scale-up European startups and SMEs, especially through their start-up accelerator program Orange Fab and their venture Capital fund Iris Capital. By supporting them during this key development stage to become European leaders, Orange seeks to encourage job creation in Europe and helps future talents.

00:02:27

00:13:35

Soundbite by Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), (in ENGLISH) saying that digitalisation is a major driver stimulating economic development and growth in a globalised world. EIB Group’s recognition of this fact is borne out by their substantial support for the sector in Europe through investments in infrastructure, R&D, education and last but not least in SME’s. As Digitalisation continues to transform the world, the EIB Group is pleased to reinforce as an institutional Founding Member those Smart Initiatives such as the European Digital Forum and the StartUp Europe Partnership.

00:02:54

00:16:29

Soundbite by Neelie Kroes (in ENGLISH) saying that the launching today of the think tank is combining all those activities (banking, companies active in this field, research institutes and Universities) and it will help the startups. Saying that people need to come out of their comfort zone because people are waiting the younger generation for creating startups.